Wings Of Love
by spanner-spazza
Summary: Basically, my view on Anna and Gabriel's life after the film. Lots of AnnaGabriel and also featuring futures of other characters, especially a certain vampire and his brides who want their revenge, and will stop at nothing.
1. Default Chapter

Anna's breath caught in her chest as the werewolf turned to face her. For a moment, they just stared at each other, a second feeling like an hour. Please, she thought desperately as it took a step towards her, please remember me, remember who you are. Her nervous hand, clasped around the cure, tightened, but not enough to damage the needle. Everything depending on her, and that needle.  
  
The werewolf that was deep down Gabriel Van Helsing snarled angrily and she suddenly realised that this was not Gabriel anymore, this was not that man that she had fallen in love with over the past few days, this was a monster. His job was to rid the world of evil by taking the monsters alive to be cured and then, and only if they caused problems, they were destroyed. If I don't cure him, she realised, then he's going to be killed by Carl. After saving her family from the ancient curse and giving them a safe passage from purgatory to the safety of heaven that they had always deserved, she was not about to let his own soul be taken because of the extremities he had gone to reach both of their goals.  
  
What fear was left in her disappeared, as both she and the werewolf moved forwards at the same time. Her movement was a tiny step nearer to the creature that encaged the man she wanted back, but his was a monstrous leap at her. She did what she could and that was to thrust out the arm holding the cure and jab it into his stomach. Then came the pain. She felt her back pound against something hard and break underneath the weight of her, and the werewolf that held her down. She could feel its disgusting hot breath against her face. Then there was pain, so much pain.  
  
Her head span with all the pain and spots danced in front of her eyes. Then she realised that this was it, she was going to die. As she realised this, she thought of her family. They were safe behind St. Peter's gates now. She had saved them. Visions of her mother, father and brother filled her head and she tried with all her strength to hold on to them as the darkness in her mind grew steadily. The fact that her family were watching, waiting for her to join them, made it easier for her to pass over. She looked up at the werewolf, which was slowly transforming back into a man. Already it was Gabriel's soft eyes that were looking down on her. She whispered his name as the darkness took control and her mind emptied, taking the pain away with it.  
  
"Anna? Anna, wake up!" Gabriel shouted. Oh my God he thought, I've killed her, the only woman I've ever loved and she's dead. He bent down, lifted her upper body towards him and burying his face in her hair as tears he had held inside for many years fell freely. "Please God, please don't take her. I didn't mean to, Anna, I never meant to hurt you."  
  
Had all his hard work been for nothing? He had been sent to protect the last members of the Valerious bloodline from Dracula. The werewolf had taken Velkan before he had arrived in Transylvania and so it was then his mission to keep Anna safe. In his eyes now, all he had done was killed Dracula, what had made this different to any other mission? He had killed the monster and as usual, an innocent life had been taken. But this life was more important than the others; he had cared deeply for Anna, Princess of the Gypsies. And now her body was lying in his arms, dead to the world. Suddenly, nothing mattered anymore. She was dead, and it was his entire fault. He had killed her, he was a murderer.  
  
"Van Helsing, wait!"  
  
Carl's voice drifted to him but he wanted to pretend he wasn't there. He wanted to pretend that everything was OK again, that Anna was alive again, but he couldn't. She wasn't coming back. Her body was still in his arms. Something was moving in his arms, but that was impossible. The only thing in his arms was Anna and she was ...  
  
"Gabriel..." Her sweet voice drifted to his ears like a song. He looked down at her in disbelief, silently thanking God. Her eyes opened and he could see a slit of brown through them. She groaned and spoke again. "My head feels like it was thrown through a wall."  
  
He gathered her in his arms and held her tightly. "Oh, Anna, you're alive!" he said over and over again. She was alive. Injured, but alive.  
  
"I'm sorry to break up this little love-fest but I think we should go back now." Carl's voice interrupted and Gabriel pulled away.  
  
"I think your right Carl." He stood up and offered a hand to Anna, who took it lightly and pulled up her weight. Her whole body ached and there was still and still a dull pain in her head. She felt slightly dizzy, but ignored the feeling and embraced Gabriel once more, thankful that they were both alive and well.  
  
As they started to walk out of Dracula's castle, Anna's headache worsened, she felt a wave of nausea hit her in the doorway and reacted quickly. One hand flew to the doorway to steady herself and the other touching her forehead in attempt to gain control of the pain. Gabriel felt her absence and turned around to see her slouched against the wall, eyes half closed and slowly shaking her head.  
  
"Anna!" he ran to her side, and upon hearing Gabriel's call, Carl the friar followed him. Gabriel moved her arm from the wall and steadied her himself. He saw she was in pain, her hands found his jacket that covered his bare chest and she grasped furiously for reassurance. "Anna, what is it? What's wrong? Carl! What is wrong with her?" Both Gabriel and Anna were now helpless in this situation. Gabriel was angered by the fact that it was him that had caused her pain, and Anna was trying desperately to remain conscious.  
  
Carl observed Anna, thankful that his training in medicine would finally pay off. "She must have a slight head injury, we should get her back to her room, she needs rest." He walked towards the exit that would lead them back to Vaseria.  
  
Anna made no move to return to her home, so Gabriel put his arms underneath her and lifted her into his arms. In her weakened state, she made no protest to his help, her stubbornness deserting her. She moaned a little and put her head to his chest, allowing him to feel her warm breath against his bare skin. He kissed her forehead. "Hold on Anna"  
  
As they re-entered Anna's home, she was now calming down a little. But she still clutched at Gabriel. They laid her in her bed, and Carl went and sat in front of her on the bed. "Anna" he said quietly. "Anna, can you hear me?"  
  
"Carl?" she whispered. Gabriel stood behind Carl. He didn't know what to do. He had helped out in these situations in previous missions, but now it was Anna that was hurt, he had forgotten everything. This wasn't a mission anymore.  
  
"Anna, listen to me." Carl was speaking clearly and waving a hand before her face. "Anna, you've hit your head. So you're going to have to stay in bed for a few days. You will be fine then, but you might have some difficulty recollecting some memories from the past few days. Do you understand?"  
  
Gabriel froze. Did that mean she wouldn't remember him? What if she didn't love him? She wouldn't remember the kiss they had shared. He had seen in her eyes as they parted that it had meant something. He wanted her to remember, he needed her to, for his sake as well as hers. If she didn't love him back, his heart would be broken. He would return to the Vatican and continue his journey to reclaim his memory from God. But if she remembered, he would give up his job. He wouldn't place her life in danger again. He would forget his lost memories and make new ones, a new life, with Anna.  
  
"Anna do you understand me?" Carl asked again. Anna's face crumpled into a small frown as she glared up at Carl.  
  
"Carl, I'm fine, I can remember everything. I just have a headache and I want to go to sleep." She said irritably. Carl looked at her in shock, maybe she wasn't as ill as he first thought. "Where's Gabriel? I want Gabriel." She asked before Carl could say anything else to distract her.  
  
Gabriel felt his heart skip a beat. She remembered. He sighed happily as she yawned. "Tired. Want Gabriel." She said as she lay on her side a curled into a ball beneath the blankets, her tone sounded like a child that was being refused their favourite toy and trying to prove how much they wanted it.  
  
"Van Helsing...?" Carl said uncertainly, unsure of how the monster hunter would react to Anna's request. Gabriel only smiled, clapping a hand on the friar's shoulder.  
  
"It's OK, Carl. You can go now." Carl stood up and left, watching Gabriel take his lace beside Anna before he closed the door on the two lovers. As he made his way to his own room, he thought about the future for Anna and Van Helsing. He imagined a wonderful wedding; beautiful children and a long lived rewarding life. He hoped that the pair, who had been living in sorrow for so long, could find happiness in each other and support one another through all that was to come.  
  
Back in Anna's room, Gabriel was holing onto her hand as she gazed up at him lovingly, but also worriedly. "Gabriel, that kiss," she said slowly, he could hear fear stutter in her voice, "Did it mean anything to you?"  
  
He smiled and kissed her forehead reassuringly. "Anna, it meant everything to me. I have never felt anything like the love I feel for you. I feel like I have known you all my life." He rubbed her hand with his thumb carelessly, and she smiled back at him.  
  
"I love you too. More than I can tell you." She yawned again and covered her mouth with her free hand.  
  
"You should rest now. You've been through a lot recently, sleep with be a nice retreat for you." He told her softly but sternly. Then there was a change so rapid in her that he couldn't believe it had really happened.  
  
Her eyes changed from love and happiness to a sharp fear and paranoia. The light within her shining dark orbs disappeared as if someone had just extinguished candlelight. "You're not going to leave are you? Please don't leave me alone." Her eyes alone were enough to make him stay with her. They pleaded, even begged him to stay with her, and not to let her sleep unprotected.  
  
"I wouldn't dream of it." And with that he took off his boots and jacket and slid beside her on the bed. He curled close to her and wrapped his arms around her slim form. She felt so light in his arms, and after a few seconds of fidgeting around to get comfortable, she finally relaxed into his embrace as sleep carried her off to another world, free from pain and suffering.  
  
Gabriel watched her for a while as she slept. So much had happened in the past week. She had lost her brother, who had sacrificed himself for her, she had been attacked by Dracula's brides many times and after finally seeing Dracula defeated, been forced to come to terms with the fact that all of her family were truly in heaven, never to return except in dreams and memories. Yet none of these tragedies were portrayed in her sleeping face. She looked so peaceful, and also comfortable in his arms. It seemed his arms were made for her to lie in them for all eternity.  
  
She sighed in her sleep and a tiny smile played on her lips. He knew that for now at least, she would sleep well, and tomorrow was when they would decide the next move. All he knew for sure, is that he would fight heaven and hell to be with her and make her happy, as this thought ran through his mind, he fell into his own peaceful sleep, full of dreams that all showed Anna's face, smiling at him as they danced, embraced and kissed again and again.  
  
This is my first attempt at a fic, so please be nice. Send me reviews about what you like and what you don't etc etc etc. I'll update as soon as possible as its summer now and I have loads of time on my hands ready for writing. I don't want to reveal too much of the rest of the plot, but any suggestions for boys and girls names would be much appreciated. 


	2. Restoring The Darkness

A shadow emerged from the familiar darkness that as the cover of the forest. It looked up from the ground at a window of Vaseria that spilled an orange glow that flooded from the stained glass to the rough uneven ground barely five inches from the feet of the shadow. It saw the shapes of two humans enter the room, the taller and heavier build one, was carrying something, or someone, that he put onto the bed. It flew in for a close look into the room. It's fangs bared and it hissed quietly as it looked into the bedroom of Anna Valerious, surrounded by Gabriel Van Helsing, and the timid friar Carl.

So that was why it was back. The final Valerious still drew breath in this life. The creature that had previously gripped the wall for support over seventy feet up in the air pushed itself away from the wall in anger. It flew faster and faster, turning anger into speed until it reached the nearby castle that was Castle Frankenstein. It landed gracefully on the ground in front of its target.

Here, it transformed. It's wings folding and shrinking in size until they moulded back into the flesh if its back. Claws that resembled black daggers of death returned to the fingernails they had been once before. The pale skin of a man hidden from sunlight grew thicker over what had been the smooth unbreakable skin of a colour darker than black, if such a thing was possible. The pale skin was clothed in a long black jacket that was buttoned up in an Elizabethan style and black pants which fitted tightly with his small boots. After what had only been two seconds of miraculous transformation, but had seemed to the man as much longer, a finely dressed man stood in the place of the Hell Beast that had landed there before.

Count Vladislaus Dracula smiled evilly as he opened the doors to his old laboratory and home, contemplating his plan and what had happened a few hours before. Gabriel and that princess had broken into his castle, his home, and ruined everything. They had killed his children in this very castle a few days ago, over the course of a week they had destroyed his three beautiful wives; Aleera, Verona and Marishka, and had taken his only chance at ever having his revenge.

But by sending him back to hell, Gabriel had started trouble for himself. Whatever happened next was the result of Gabriel's actions. Lucifer had shown him the future.

He had seen the children.

Those children would be his targets, his reason for pain. By the time this castle was fit for devastation once again, the children would be old enough to understand his passions, and old enough to join him in a final battle against their parents.

As everything came together in his twisted mind, he laughed loudly. A laugh that echoed of every wall, one that could send shivers down the spines of nightmares and send them running into the night with fear. As his laugh died down he moved to the window and gazed out at Vaseria in the distance.

"Watch out, Angels. I'm coming for you."


	3. Witch's Prophecy

Years passed, many years, since that fateful night at Castle Dracula. Anna and Gabriel shared their life together, as each had hoped, and a beautiful life it was. Not a year after they had met, they were married on a cliff top, overlooking the ocean at sunset. A year after that, their son was born.

Scott Velkan Van Helsing was now a fourteen-year-old boy, who looked like his father in every way. The same straight dark hair, but he kept it slightly shorter, and the same eyes that you saw trust and faith in. He was so brave, always putting others before himself; he was everything a parent could want. He also looked after his sisters and brother tremendously, and their eldest daughter was so close to him that they seemed to know what one another was thinking.

Katie Grace Van Helsing had grown into a beautiful young twelve-year-old. She had long golden hair and bright blue eyes that were always filled with a certain spark that always made you smile. Everyone had known that the children would have angel blood in them with Gabriel being the left hand of God, but no one had expected Kate to be the living image of a child angel. She was a portrait of everything innocent in the world. Her bond with Scott was indescribable, she loved her brother a lot, and since she was old enough to crawl, she would follow him around whenever she could.

Scott and Kate were Anna and Gabriel's only children for a while, but when Kate had turned seven, the couple were blessed with the arrival of another _two _children in the form of identical twins. Alexander and Serenity were now wonderful five year olds, they looked like their mother a lot, and it had been proven by Carl that Serenity looked exactly like Anna had at that age. Alex and Serena, as their names were shortened to, were playful and curious children, and worked together from a young age to cause mischief and havoc around Vaseria.

The eldest children knew all about Dracula and his supposed demise, as well as their parent's involvement in it. But in Anna's eyes, the twins were too young to understand. They knew of werewolves and vampires and their dangers, as Carl had told them stories, but the legend of Dracula and the Valerious Curse was still a mystery to them.

But the day when they found out everything, and when Scott and Kaie were in charge of keeping all four of them alive was drawing closer, unknown to all except five people. Dracula, and his three new wives, Nakeisha, a beautiful Romanian widow, Neusha, another Romanian with no memory before Dracula 'rescued her', and Larissa, an English woman no older than twenty-one in appearance, and also Dracula's son, Devin, who resembled him in every way, but trapped in a thirteen-year-olds body. But this family hid in the sanctuary of Castle Frankenstein, unknown to all, feeding off stray farm animals and disposing of the bodies so no one would ever know. Only they knew of the danger coming, and only they knew when it would strike.

"Scott, do you think Momma and Dad will like us going to meet them?" Kate asked in the stables of Vaseria. They stood, readying their horses, so they could meet Anna and Gabriel from their trip to the Vatican. There had been some trouble with a witch there so the children couldn't accompany them this time, which was a shame, as they had all wanted to much to go and see their godfather, who was the leader of the Holy Order, Cardinal Jinette. It was early morning, and still rather dark, and their parents would be arriving in a few hours, so Scott and Kate had crept out of their rooms, careful not to wake the twins or Carl, and planned to meet them on the edge of the forest.

"I'm sure they'll love it, after all, we haven't seen each other for a month." Scott assured. Kate smiled, her brother was always the optimist, and always restoring lost faith when things went wrong. She watched as he finished attaching the saddle on his horse, Beacan, and she did the same to hers, which she had named Braelyn. Together, they quietly rode out of Transylvania, thankful that they didn't meet anyone on their way to stop them, or tell Carl, who had been minding them while their parents were away. It wasn't a big deal any way, they would be back in a few hours.

They rode for about half an hour and they reached the forest. On the way there they had talked of the ball they would be attending with their parents that night in their home. Kate loved going to watch the balls, but she hated it when she was made to wear a dress. She preferred it when her and Scott would watch from upstairs at all the guest in their suits and dresses looking amazing, but doing it themselves were an entirely different matter.

When they reached the forest it was partly covered by a fine mist in the early morning. The tall conifers were towering over them and the followed the path that led to hill where they would wait. The short journey to the hill was a quiet one, making the forest seem eerier than usual to Kate. She had always been afraid of entering it alone, and would only ever go in with Scott or her parents, there was something about the stories she heard that unsettled her nerves around the place.

At the top of the hill they could see the path her parents would take home. They would be able to see them right from the bordering village, which was thirty miles away. Kate tied Braelyn to a one of the nearby trees, and her brother followed her. She finished before he did and went to the edge of the hill and began to follow the path, she would be able to see them for sure by now, as the sun was just starting to rise in the east.

She followed the path from the other village and, with her eyes, traced their path, she passed the bridge three quarters of the way through to Transylvania and began to panic a little, she should have seen them already, shouldn't she? Her eyes widened as she reached the end of the path, that then curled around the hill the pair sat on. Scott appeared beside her and questioned her worried face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not seeing anything wrong with their situation.

"They're not coming, Scott." She muttered, her gold blonde hair flowing a sudden breeze.

"Of course they are." He said, scanning the horizon, "You probably just missed them that's all." He was also worried, but wouldn't admit it to his baby sister. If she knew he was scared too, she would be hysterical.

"What do we do?" she asked after a few minutes.

"We'll wait a while, if they still don't come, they might have missed the boat, we'll go home, they'll be back tomorrow if they missed it." He hoped he was right. But why did he have an awful feeling that although he couldn't see anyone else around him for at least ten miles besides a few farmers, that there was someone watching their every move? What was out there?

Anna and Gabriel had left the path. There was some kind of dead animal in the path that, after inspection, they had found only two small puncture wounds. Both knew what it was that had killed it, but neither would admit it. They rarely spoke of that night anymore, they had children to protect, and speaking of such tales in detail would only worry everyone.

They rode side by side, Anna on her brown horse, and Gabriel on his black stallion, in silence. Gabriel was worried, something had risen in Anna since seeing that animal in the clearing, there was a darkness in her eyes that he had not seen for many days, it had been there, he knew it had and it always would, but since seeing the witch, and what it had told her, the darkness had been growing steadily for a few days.

"Anna, what is it?" He asked, his whisper breaking the soft silence and he reached his arm out to her, clutching her hand gently. She looked down at his hand and then have a slight squeeze on it.

"That witch, she said this would happen."

Her words shocked her. He had refused to believe anything that the witch had told them, but the words she spoke were still fresh in his mind: "_He will return. Your worst nightmare, back for you both in the worst way you could possible imagine, dangerous to more than the two of you. He has been back all this time, only hidden, he never really left. Watch the young, for they hold the key. In her heart is the power to vanquish, if only she believes she can do it. Nothing will happen until the child of the devil's child carelessly leaves a corpse in your path. An ultimate battle, heaven verses hell. Child verses Child. The only way to end it and bring eternal peace. Heed this warning." _Only this had only enraged Gabriel, and these had been her dying words.

But Anna was right, she had warned them, and they had not listened. The witch spoke of their children and she had not known of them. "He's back." Anna whispered, staring at Gabriel with fear and foreboding. Then, when their gazes locked, Gabriel understood the words she couldn't bring herself to say.

Dracula was back, not for them, not for the two that had killed him, his wives and his children.

For their children. Scott, Kate, Alex and Serena were already in danger. From an enemy they thought was dead.

"Gabriel, I'm scared. I don't want this to be happening." He could feel her pain, her suffering, and her fear for their children. If Dracula got to them, he didn't know what he was going to do. It wouldn't be a simple chase of hunt and kill, there was more than one innocent life involved, and they were his own flesh and blood. Would the angel blood protect them long enough?

"Neither do I, when we get back we'll tell Scott and Kate that he's back, and that under no circumstances are any of them to leave the castle without one of us or Carl. We'll protect them. We'll make it so He can't find them." Gabriel planned. "There is hope yet Anna, I just fear it is in Kate and not Serena that this so called power lies, Kate knows what to do if anything should happen and he appears. Serena would be helpless, she's no more than an infant."

Gabriel was about to speak more words of comfort to his wife but a high-pitched scream and a manly yell pierced the air. Anna felt a tear in her eye. They knew those voices. They belonged to Kate and Scott. "Oh God," Anna exclaimed. "What are they doing out here?" she said, forcing her horse into a high speed run towards the direction of the screams.

Gabriel suddenly felt all his hope crumble. His children were being attacked. They were in danger. His horse quickly caught up with Anna's as he realised what they had done. "They must have come to meet us," He told Anna. "The Hill."

They only took a few minutes to reach the hill, and a sore sight met their eyes. Anna nearly cried when she saw Scott crouched over Kate, shielding his sister's body from the constant attacks of a large grey demon with wings.

"A vampire!" Anna gasped as she raced up this hill to her children. Gabriel was already at the scene when she reached the top. She climbed of her horse and Gabriel charged the stallion straight at the creature and rearing it onto it's hind legs, forcing the vampire towards the opposite edge of the hill, and away from the children.

Once free from her own horse, Anna raced to the kids. Scott looked up thankfully at his mother. "Momma, we came to meet you, we missed you, but she came out of no where," he started to explain. She put a finger to his lips and hugged him, kissing his forehead. With a quick scan she noticed no damage to her son save a small cut above his left eye. But she then focused her attention on Kate, who was unconscious in her brother's arms. Scott gave her limp body to Anna and gulped.

"She's gonna be alright, isn't she Momma?" He said. "It flew at her and knocked her against the tree." Anna couldn't see any damage to bones, she must just be resting.

"Kate? Katie, can you hear me? I'm here, baby, Momma's here, wake up." Anna pleaded with the unmoving form that was her daughter. Scott just stared as his usually strong mother began to cry. He looked desperately around and saw his father at the edge of the hill. He watched as his father bend down over the female vampire and pulled out a silver stake that he had plunged into her heart. Gabriel looked round and locked eyes with his son, and then his gaze drifted over Kate and Anna. He ran over, and crouched over Kate.

"Momma? Daddy?" Kate began to stir. Scott looked up hopefully from the small patch of grass he had decided to find very interesting to avoid looking at his sister's lifelessness. Anna held Kate very close to her and hugged her tight. For a small moment, she had feared she was going to lose her to the hands of a vampire. Vampires and werewolves had taken her whole family; she couldn't forgive herself if she had let her daughter become the first of her family to be taken by a new generation.

"Dad?" Scott said uneasily. Gabriel turned worriedly to his son.

"Are you hurt, son?" He said, putting a large hand on his son's shoulder.

"No, I'm fine. It's Katie, the vampire called her 'Angel Valerious'. Why did they call her that?" Scott said, cocking an eyebrow despite the pain and the blood.

Gabriel looked back at Anna, their thoughts reciting the words of the witch once again. _Watch the young, for they hold the key. In her heart is the power to vanquish, if only she believes she can do it. _Kate held the power, so they had attacked her first before the others. Dracula had been watching them, watching Kate, Anna sighed heavily.

"It's really happening, he's really back."

Larissa flew in through the open window, not caring if anyone saw her in her vampire form. She went straight to Dracula's study where he was reading a book by Mark Twain, thought she could not see the title, she knew he had read it many times in their years here. He looked up as she entered, her head bowed at his watch. Had he noticed yet that Nakeisha had not yet returned from her task?

"My Lord."

"Well?" He asked, quite impatiently.

"Nakeisha has not returned with the girl. Do you think she has failed?" It was usually taboo to speak against the loyalty of the wives to their master, but this occasion called. Dracula opened his mouth to scold her, his fangs bearing, when Devin interrupted by flying to the open study. Dracula's wrath was not unleashed on the boy.

"Father, I-"

"Where have you been?!" Dracula roared at the boy. "You disappear at dawn! Do you have any idea how stupid that was!"

"Father, please, Nakeisha is dead." Devin said quietly to his father. Dracula's face softened considerably, mourning the loss of yet another wife.

"Who? Who did this?" He demanded of his son, taking him by the shoulders and pulling him very close, so their faces were an inch apart.

"Van Helsing. She went to take the girl but she as with her brother, he protected her, then Van Helsing and the Princess arrived and he put a stake through her heart. I was in a tree in the forest, I hear her screams and saw the pain." Devin said bitterly, his upbringing was strict and he now hated the Van Helsings by second nature, as if he had seen everything his father had been through by their hands.

Dracula turned to the window, and looked out at Vaseria. If had been able to feel love for Nakeisha, he would almost certainly feel pure hatred for Gabriel. "Hear me Godsend. You shall pay with the lives of your children for the life on my wife. It is my turn to watch you and your precious wife squirm."

Like it? Hate it? Let me know. Thanks for whoever pointed out the slash mistake in my summery, it has been changed now. In chapters 2 3 there hasn't been any AnnaGabriel romance, but don't worry, there will be lots coming up, I'm going to devote a whole chapter to it, as well as some flashback to some key events in the skipped years. I know I've missed a lot out, but there's a reason for it. Keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the chapters coming!


	4. Worries and Packing

Carl was worried. He had been looking after the children for Gabriel and Anna for about a month or so now, it had been the same things every day. He would go and start making breakfast and then go and wake the younger two and his own child up and then older two would usually smell the food a mile away and come down themselves. He had always thought himself quite lucky this time around. Usually Kate and Scott got into all sorts of trouble, and now, on the final morning, they had decided to go missing.

He sat at the large dining table with Serena and Alex as they ate their toast greedily. Serena suddenly stopped and looked around, as if she had only just noticed where she was.

"Where's Katie and Scott?"

Carl sighed and smiled falsely at the little child, her dark brown eyes staring at him with the utmost confusion. "They're probably still in bed, they were out late last night." The young beauty seemed to accept this excuse and went back to her breakfast.

"Morning Dad."

Carl turned round to see his daughter, Cathy, enter the room. She looked at the three with her hungry green eyes and quickly stole a slice of toast from her father's plate. "I was going to eat that." He moaned under his breath.

After breakfast, Carl began searching for Kate and Scott. He checked everywhere in the manor that they could possibly be; the library, Anna's father's study, the armoury, but there was not hide nor hair of them. Then he went to tell Cathy to keep an eye on the twins before going to search the village. It was only when he entered the stable that his worst fears were confirmed, and he saw that both Beacan and Braelyn were both missing, and the hoof marks on the floor were old.

Anna held the reins to her own horse and also to Braelyn on their way home. Gabriel had Kate sitting in front of him asleep on his stallion and Scott stayed close to his mother's side. She looked at her husband's grave face as they all rode in silence. He looked terrified, but he was covering it up for the kid's sake, and also for Anna. Ever since they had defeated Dracula for the first time he had a habit of trying to cover up his fear from Anna, not wanting her to see him scared as long as he could stand it for.

She loved it that he did it to protect her, and the children, but she knew it was tearing him up inside, and it was only in the middle of the night that he would tell her his fears and his worries. But she had seen fear covered up all her life in her family's struggle against the curse, she didn't want the madness to take hold of her new family as well.

Angel Valerious.

That name made her shiver with fear. She remembered when she had encountered Dracula as a child, no more than five years old, and he had called her that. He had said so many things to her, but those two words were the only ones that had stuck with her to this day. It scared her more than her encounter did that he had called Katie that.

"Anna."

She looked up as Gabriel's voice put a stop on her crazy thoughts. Scott looked at him as well, and she suddenly realised that he looked more like his father now than he ever had. They had the same grave expression that was searching for hope amongst the darkness.

"We should take the children to Rome. Jinette will keep them safe in the Vatican. It's too dangerous here." She knew he was right. He always was. The Vatican was the only place Dracula and his brides couldn't get to them. There, under the protection of God himself, Kate, Scott, Alex and Serena would be safe while her and Gabriel took care of Dracula once and for all.

She nodded. "It's the only way" she said, more to herself than to her husband or son.

"But what about the Ball, dad?" Scott piped up. Katie had wanted to go to this ball so much, she wouldn't be able to go to another once for a year or so.

"We'll have to cancel it, Scott." Gabriel said. "They'll be another, when everything's safe again."

Scott nodded and looked straight ahead of him. He could see the manor now, home. Now he would have to explain to Carl why they were missing this morning. It was all his idea. He felt so stupid now, he put his and Kate's life in danger so they could see their parents half an hour earlier than they would have if they stayed at home. It was all his fault that Kate was hurt. If he hadn't been too selfish, she was quite happy to stay at home and wait; she would never have been attacked. What if she had died?

Later that night, Scott packed a small bag for him and Alex. They were allowed to take a few outfits and some essentials. They had to travel light so the risk of being seen was low. Beside him, a recovering Kate was putting some of Serena's clothes into her own bag. She had a small bruise on her forehead from earlier that had seated itself upon a little lump. She noticed him looking at her and stopped packing.

"Scott, what's wrong?" She said quietly, not to disturb the twins, who sat on their bed trying to decide which of their many toys to count as an essential.

"This is all my fault, you getting hurt, us getting sent away." He admitted, not looking at her, but rather at the ground.

"It would have happened sooner or later." Kate said. "If I am the one they're looking for like Momma said, then it was always going to happen. It could have happened tomorrow, it could have been two years ago, it doesn't matter. When Momma and Dad go off to kill him, just think of it as a normal mission for them." She said reassuringly. Scott was amazed, she was always so wise for her age.

"It's not a normal mission though, Kate. That's why we're being sent away, miles away. I don't want to go, as much as I'd like to see Jinette again. This is our home. If anything happens, this is where we'll want to be. All of mum's family have lived here, and we're the only ones of her family that are being taken away from it and we don't even fight what they did."

Kate hugged her doubtful brother. It was very very rare that he lost his optimism. It scared her that her older brother that she looked up to so much doubted their parent's decisions.

"Don't worry Scott, everything will be OK. It's not like we're never going to come home."

She was suddenly filled with a sense of foreboding, and it was bad. She had always had visions in the form of dreams. Sometimes they told the past, sometimes the future, but they were rarely bad. She felt a small pain at the top of her neck that made her shudder. Why did it feel like she was lying? Was something bad going to happen to them in Rome? She had always spoken to her Dad about these things before, but under the circumstances, she thought she wouldn't mention this one. He had enough on his plate without her stupid little worries.


	5. Author's Note please read

I know the last chapter was short but I was running out of ideas for this chapter. Any suggestions for Anna and Gabriel's next moves would be greatly appreciated, but it needs to fit in with Dracula's plan. I can reveal that he is going to kidnap the children, but how and what he does with them are going to remain a mystery to you all until that chapter is published.

Please send feedback to , by email or if you have msn instant messenger you can talk to me over that by adding my email address to your contact list. I will make sure that all suggestions work their way into this story at one point or another.

Thanx for reading!


	6. One Moment In Time

Gabriel set his small bag, containing a change of clothes and some flasks of water. He would carry his weapons inside his jacket as he usually did and he trusted Anna would have her sword at her side as she always did. He hated himself for what he was about to do; yet he knew in his heart it was the right thing to do for the children's sake. He wanted the children here, at Vaseria; it was their home and their forefathers before them, he didn't want them to have to leave. And he didn't want to be the one to tear them away or carry them out if they refused. He just kept telling himself: it was for their own protection.

He turned towards the bed once again and saw Anna with her bag beside her, fast asleep. They had been travelling the better half of twelve hours on horseback and with all the worrying; she had not let on how exhausted she really was. He sat down next to her and watched as her chest heaved up and down gently. She was so sacrificial. She put her own health on the line today to be with her children. That is what scared him so much, she never let on if she was injured or suffering until someone forced her too, and by then it was sometimes dangerous.

The worst time had been a few months after they had married. She had been looking a bit peaky for weeks, but she hadn't admitted to feeling unwell. She only ever told him how terrible she felt once, and that was when she was eventually bedridden with the highest fever Gabriel had ever seen or heard of. He never left her side and three times the doctors had told him to say his goodbyes as there was no hope, but three times he prayed non stop and three times she stayed with him. But if they had found out the weeks before when she should have told them, she could have been easily treated. However, as usual, she hadn't wanted anyone to worry.

He brushed a stray lock of hair from her sleeping face. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping, where nothing could get her. His hand moved from her soft curled hair to the rich smooth skin that covered her cheekbones. Even in sleep she recognised his touch, and smiled to herself as her eyelids slowly opened. She gazed up at him and placed her hand over his on her face, savouring his touch.

"Hey" she whispered. Her eyes filling with love and devotion as her husband smiled back at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so tired?" he asked, she could hear the hint of worry in his voice, it had been there all day, ever since they had found that animal blocking the path.

"I didn't realise it until I laid down" she admitted sleepily. There was silence between them for a moment, and Gabriel leaned down to kiss her lightly. It was moments like this that reminded her of her wedding day. The day she began her new family. It was one of the happiest days of her lives, just like her mother and father had told her theirs was, even though their own parents had arranged it.

So while her father was out chasing away werewolves and other such creatures of the night, her mother had been introducing her to suitors that she hoped Anna would like. Of course, they had all been rich and charming men, but there was always something about her that they didn't accept, like the fact that if there was danger, she would ride out to meet it rather than be rescued by a rich man. Another reason for it was because as soon as she kissed Gabriel, she had known instantly that this was the man she was destined to be with forever.

"You can go back to sleep if you want, we'll leave at dawn." She nodded and laid her head down on the pillow as Gabriel pulled the thick blanket over her resting form. He got up and walked towards the door, looking back at her as he closed it behind him.

He walked down to the twin's room, where he knew that all four children would be. He wasn't wrong either, as when he pushed the door open quietly, he saw them all sitting in the bed, and all asleep.

Alex's head was in Kate's lap, and Serena's in Scott's. Scott also had his arm protectively around Kate, even in sleep worrying about his little sister. Gabriel smiled and went back to wake Anna. He wanted her to see this. If they were sending the children away, he was glad that he could grant her one look at them all together in such an angelic state of appearance that she could hold on to until they were back home again.

As she gazed at her four children, she leaned backwards into Gabriel's chest for support. There was a warm fuzzy feeling in her heart that made her smile, this also made Gabriel smile. After a while, Anna pulled away and went to the side of the bed closest to her, where Alex and Kate were and got into the bed beside them, putting her arms around the ones she could reach. Gabriel followed suit on the other side with Scott and Serena. Serena, who had always been extremely lose to Gabriel, even more so than she had with her twin brother, sensed him next to her and curled up against him, just like Anna did at night, he kissed her forehead and let sleep take him. Here in this room, there was nothing to worry about, no vampires or darkness that would distract them from the love they had for the children.

Larissa and Neusha accompanied Devin to Dracula in his study. He had called to them when the moon came up and the castle was dark so he could explain his plan to them. Dracula sat at the desk fingering a dagger. When his dark wives and son entered the room he smiled evilly.

"My Lord" Larissa began in her thick English accent. "What is you plan, I was not aware there would be changes this close to the abduction of the children?"

"Gabriel Van Helsing killed some of my wives before. Verona and Marishka. I loved them well, and Anna Valerious in turn killed Aleera. Now the cycle is beginning again, starting with the death of Nakeisha. There are no changes to the plan my dears. You all know your places. The children are being taken to Rome tomorrow at dawn. Then the Van Helsing couple will come to us, searching us out for the threat we pose on their game of happy families." Dracula said, if there had been any emotion in his voice when he said this, it would have been dripping with nothing more than pure hatred and cruelty.

"Then what, Father?" Devin asked. Dracula looked at his son, who was starting to look so much like him, the same hair, the same eyes, it was truly a son to be proud of.

"We shall teach Gabriel what it is like to have his wife taken from him. And we shall kill her in front of him, and the children. Then, starting with the youngest, we shall take the children's lives too." Dracula turned and stared out the window to Vaseria in the distance. "He has taken the lives of my wives and children. When the tables are turned, lets see how much _he_ like the pain."

Might take a while to update the next chapter as I am going on holiday to Wales and I'm not sure if they have the Internet on the computer up there. So I might do a lot of updating, and then hardly any, and then some more when I get back. Send all feedback to 


	7. Welcome To Hell

Saying goodbye the next evening was one of the hardest things Gabriel and Anna had ever had to do. Scott and Kate understood what was happening. They realised that their parents were risking their lives to rid the world of the evil that threatened them, and they hated every second of it. They hated the way that Serena's eyes filled with tears when she hugged her father and refused to let go, her tiny fingers clutching at his leather jacket.

"Don't leave us, Daddy" She wept quietly, so only her parents, brothers and sister could hear her. "I don't want you and Momma to go."

Anna, who was holding Alex, watched as Gabriel stroked his daughter's hair as she cried. She wanted this to be over. She didn't want to leave her children, but they had to be safe. The thought of Dracula having her children scared her to death, and she hated feeling so vulnerable.

"Serena, baby, we have to go. We'll be back in a few days." _We hope, _he thought to himself. "You'll have fun here with Jinette. You'll have Katie and Scott and Alex. You won't even notice how quickly the time goes." He wanted to cry himself. He didn't want to let Serena go, or the others, he wanted to hold them all in his arms and keep them there forever. Serena let go a bit and looked up at her father. "Promise me you're going to have fun." She nodded tearfully and he smiled, wiping her tears away with his finger.

"Bye Momma." Katie said quietly, hugging her mother.

"Bye Angel." She pulled away resentfully and looked at both Katie and Scott. "Take care of the twins, won't you?" They nodded obediently. "I love you so much, I'm so proud of you, whatever happens, remember that."

Katie didn't like this little speech, it sounded too much like what the soldiers in all the old stories said to their wives the last time they saw them. The thought made her shudder and she chanced a sideways glance at her brother, who only smiled, reassuring her slightly, but the image of her parents being killed stayed with her.

Cardinal Jinette stood with them on the steps of the Vatican as they watched their father help their mother onto her horse then mounting his own. They waved and smiled as they rode off, and all five of them watched silently as the pair turned a corner and out of their sight until they returned.

It was then that Serena started to cry again, screaming for her father, over and over again until Alex also started to cry. The older two picked up the twins and carried them inside to their rooms. There they told stories with beautiful princesses, handsome princes, and happy endings to cry their tears, and it wasn't long before they were laughing and having fun, like they promised their father.

"So, Scott, do you still enjoy sword work?" Jinette asked cheerfully the next day. They were all outside with the monks playing and laughing. Serena and Alex were being entertained by Carl's younger brother David, which left the elder two to catch up with their godfather.

"Not as much, I'm more into studying now believe it or not." Scott answered proudly. Jinette looked taken aback.

"I cannot believe what I am hearing." He exclaimed. "One of the children of the most reckless people in all history and you are calm. At least that's one of you." He joked, nudging Katie in the ribs gently, causing her to giggle at the memories of her getting into trouble at the Vatican on previous visits, including blowing up half of a certain lab in the basement.

"Momma and Dad aren't reckless anymore. They've really settled down now the twins are around." Scott said defensively.

"In their day they were, trust me. You've heard the story of how they met."

"Too many times" Joked Katie.

"Your mother was swinging from buildings on a piece of rope and your father was already fighting all sorts before that. Obviously that's where young Katie gets it from, her mother." Jinette laughed heartily, so did the children.

"I'm going to ready lunch." He announced, standing up between Scott and Katie, "Bring the twins in for some food in a while and I'll make you something nice up."

He disappeared into the church and downstairs to the kitchen. He began making a salad, thinking of the old days, especially when Gabriel had turned up with Anna after they defeated Dracula.

"Van Helsing I told you to protect her! Not fall in love with her!" He cried. He had turned red in the face when they had told him about Velkan's death, but when they had announced they were engaged and in love, he was now a sort of deep purple colour, nearing a summer sky blue.

"_You can't help who you fall in love with." Gabriel had screamed back, "Anyway, we would be honoured if you could be the one to marry us."_

_The sudden remark had caused him to nearly lose balance and he instantly forgot why he was angry with them. They had had enough trouble in their lives; maybe all they needed to make it right again was each other._

"Cardinal, come quickly!"

The young monk, whose name was Michael, ran into the kitchen and disturbed Jinette's thoughts, e was red in the face, and he had been running.

"Vampires! In the courtyard"

That sentence made his heart thud with fear as he followed Michael as fast as he could. The children, they were in the courtyard. Were they safe?

The sight that greeted him when he got there was one that any other man would have run away from.

Two female vampires, no doubt the remaining of the three brides, and a smaller, male vampire were swooping low and attacking at the monks. He called out the children's names in a panic and he heard Alex's cry of help. Following the scream, he was the four of them huddled together in a corner, trapped by a larger bat, twice the size of a normal man. It was black and he could see the white of its bared fangs from across the courtyard. His heart stopped.

Dracula himself.

Scott pushed the other three away and into a run towards the church. They would be safe there, Momma had told him so. He watched as the twins ran faster, ahead of Katie, only to be swooped down on by the younger male and the smaller of the females. Katie screamed for them and the twins struggled effortlessly as they were suspended in mid air by the legs of the flying demons.

Jinette ran out and towards the bat that was Dracula. The hell beast turned and struck him across the side of the head, his body collapsing in a heap at its feet. The hell beast then moved away from Scott, who sighed with relief, then he realised where it was going.

"Katie, run!"

By the time she heard Scott's shout it was too late to move. She heard a growl above her and she looked up to see the face of the demon that she was warned about her whole life. She was so terrified she was unable to move. Scared that any sudden movement could get her killed by this beast.

"Hello, Angel."

He grabbed her and flew up to the other two, closely followed by the female now carrying a struggling Scott. With that, they flew off into the approaching storm clouds, carrying with them the children they had hunted.

Jinette awoke a few moments later, just in time to see the silhouettes disappear in a flash of lightening on the horizon. "Oh No." He sighed. "God Help Us"


	8. In The Clutches of Death

Carl greeted his friends from the stables and waited for the pair to turn to him before he spoke. Their eyes showed pain and he watched as Anna fell sobbing into Gabriel's arms.

"Hey, it's Ok, they're safe now." He soothed, comforting her as he had done to Serena not so long ago. He stroked her hair and gently, unaware of Carl standing at the gate, who took it upon himself to leave at this moment, realising that the pair needed time alone.

Anna cried long and hard. For almost half an hour they stood in the stables while he held her tightly. He kept on hand on her head and moved the other to the base of her back, which he carelessly rubbed, not trying to calm her down, just to comfort her. He was also deeply upset about the children being miles away from home. They had stayed at the Vatican before, but always with them, and never under risk from so much danger.

"Look at me, Anna." He commanded softly. She lifted her head from his chest, and he looked deep into her teary eyes, locking their gaze as he spoke. "They know we love them, they know how much we care about their safety. I hate this as much as you do, but there is nothing else we can do. We have to get rid of him again, and we can't do that with the children so close to danger." She nodded sadly in agreement, before turning away and wiping her eyes as she walked back into the mansion, now free from the sound of laughing children.

"Are you all OK?" Scott asked worriedly, checking with his eyes for any injury on his siblings as soon as Dracula had left the room. He was scared, why shouldn't he be? But he refused to show it in front of the others. As Dad had told him once, they needed a strong big brother who they could depend on, not one who hid away in fright.

They all nodded. Alex went to the small window and clutched at the ledge. "Home." He whispered, the others walked over to him and gazed out of the window.

Sure enough, there was Vaseria. Standing lonely in the landscape before them, not more than a five minute walk away. Home.

"There's Momma and Daddy" Serena said quietly. Any other time she would have shouted, but she had heard Dracula say that any noise heard from outside would result in punishment.

So, instead, the four watched as their father took their mother in his embrace on the balcony outside their room. They knew she was crying from the way she had her head buried in her hands, and the way their father kept wiping his eyes made them believe he was also crying. "Why are they crying?" Alex asked, still whispering.

"They didn't want to leave us." Katie said quietly. The silence in the room grew as none of them stopped watching their parents.

"Then why did they?" Serena asked. Katie didn't answer, did the twins feel betrayed y their own mother and father? The thought played on her mind. Had they walked into a trap?

"Because they love us. They didn't know it was going to happen." Scott muttered, more to himself than the others.

A gust of wind hit them, and it carried the sound of Anna's crying. They could hear us if we shouted, thought Katie, We needed a signal, to let them know we're here. Then the thought hit her.

"Alex, give me your necklace." She said quickly, taking them all by surprise.

"Why?" He never took his necklace off. It was a holy cross, made of real diamonds that he was given when he was a baby.

"Because we can throw it. When the wind blows again, it will land right by them and they'll know we're up here!"

Scott looked amazed at his sister's plan. It might actually work. Slowly, Alex took of his necklace and took one last look at it before he placed it in Katie's hand. It was lucky she was a good thrower, thought Scott, otherwise it defiantly wouldn't work.

They all waited in silence as Katie threw the pendant and chain towards their parents. It dipped a bit, and Katie was terrified it wasn't going to land where they wanted it to land, but then a strong gust of wind caught it and took it the rest of the way, she sighed with relief.

Anna couldn't stop crying. She wanted her children back home where they belonged. There was comfort in Gabriel's embrace, knowing that she was not alone in both body and pain. She began to feel drowsy and relax more into his comforting chest and...

"Ouch!" She cried out. Something had just fallen from a great height onto her head. She looked around for what it was, although it was probably a stone dropped by a bird. Gabriel also looked on the floor. He spotted something glittering in the moonlight by Anna's foot. She crouched down and picked it up. She held it out for Gabriel to see, a small diamond-encrusted cross with edges of silver. One of a matching pair, one with gold given to Serena, and one with silver given to –

"Alex!" She breathed, looking around in the direction of the pendants fall. The couple found themselves looking up at Castle Frankenstein, at the tallest tower. There was a window up the top, it wasn't very large but she could see something blocking the light getting through it.

"It cannot be." Gabriel gasped as he followed her gaze. "No, no this can't be happening! They're at the Vatican."

It was then, at the exact moment that her husband lost all control over his emotions, that Anna realised that the 'something' blocking the window was in fact their children. Which meant only one thing.

Dracula had taken them. He must have known they would send the children to Rome for safety. She fell to her knees as a shrill scream escaped from the window. Followed by a large black bat that burst through it.

"Let me go!" Katie screamed as Dracula transformed into his bat form once again and dragged her through the window. She looked down and felt her head spin with the realisation that she was about one hundred feet in the air over a large patch of dangerous looking trees, and Dracula could let go at any second.

"I leave you alone for a few minutes and you already put my whole plan in danger." He roared down at her. Scott watched helplessly from the window with a scared pair of twins grasping him screaming.

"Please, put me down!" She begged, tears running down her face. She thought of her parents, her brothers and sister. Was she going to die at the hands of this monster?


	9. The Wrath of God

Kate opened her eyes. Her head was groggy and ached terribly. Her back felt like it was broken in half. Scott was leaning over her and his face was barely three inches from her own. She tried to sit up, only to fail and be helped by her older brother.

"What happened?" She asked quietly. The last thing she could remember was thinking that she was going to die at the hands of Dracula.

"He threw you back in and you hit the wall pretty hard. Are you OK?" Ever the one to worry only about the safety of others, his eyes watched her carefully. Just like Dad, she thought.

She nodded and looked around them. The air as not clear, but murky; it had an odour, and unpleasant smell of decay, of old rotting things, and of dead things left unburied, and because it was cloudy with dust, everything seemed to move, to simmer, especially in the darker gloomier corners.

Only the one window that they had just leaned out of would be able to let the light in on them, but it was simply a hole, no glass covering it, so it would get easily cold later in the night. The floor was covered in wide wooden planks, soft and rotting. There was enough old furniture in this room to furnish several small houses. Dark, massive wardrobes, and chamber pots, and many other things. Only everything that seemed of value was draped over by sheets where dust had accumulated to turn the white cloth a dingy grey. Dozens of old leather-bound trunks with heavy brass locks and corners lined one entire wall, each trunk stuck all over with world travel labels. Big trunks, fit for coffins.

Subdued by the immense room, and Dracula's threat, until now, Serena let out a howl that took Kate swiftly from her observations and back to the here and now, which was where she didn't want to be. Dracula's voice echoed in my mind. Any loud noise I can hear from outside this corridor will result in punishment. That is what he had said to them, and with this thought in her head, she ran over to hush her sister.

Serena hit at Kate, and Scott, as they tried to calm her, yelling how much she wanted her home, but the more we tried to help, the louder she screamed. In the end, the only solution was Scott covering her mouth, but it was already too late.

The door burst open so quickly it made them all jump, causing Scott to remove his hand from her mouth. "Stop that child screaming this instant!" Dracula commanded. Kate knew, just from looking at his stone cold face, that he would know exactly how to shut Serena up, and at once. However, sitting on Kate's other knee was a little boy whose eyes grew wide as he stared up at the vampire – someone who threatened his twin. She jumped down from Kate's lap despite her efforts to keep him still, and was now standing in front of him. Planting her small feet wide apart, Serena threw back her head and really let it go! It reminded Kate of one of the singers in the opera Momma had taken them too a few years so, her former cries seemed like weak mewing from a small kitten, but now she was a tigress, enraged.

Kate was impressesd, awed and terrified at the same time of what happened next.

The tall scary vampire seized hold of Serena's hair, lifting her up enough to make Alex pounce on him. Faster than they could wink, he ran to bite Dracula's leg. Kate cringed inside, knowing that they were all in for it now. Dracula simply gazed down at him, then shook him off like one does a small annoying lap-dog. But the bite did make him release Serena's hair. Down she dropped to the floor, to quickly to scamper to her feet, and take a quick swipe, just missing the Dracula's leg with her foot.

Not to be outdone by his twin sister, Alex raised his little white shoe, took careful aim, and then kicked the vampire's leg as hard as he could manage. In the meanwhile, Serena scuttled over to the corner where she crouched down and wailed like an Irish banshee in ancient legends set on fire! It was indeed a scene worthy of remembering and recording.

So far Alex hadn't said a work, or uttered one cry, as was his silent as resolute way. But no one was going to hurt or threaten his sister – even if that 'no one' stood close to six feet, and weighed in close to two hundred pounds. And Alex was small for his age.

If Alex didn't like what was happening to Serena or the potential, now almost certain, threat to himself, Dracula didn't like what was happening to him either! He glared down at his small defiant, angry face, which was tilted up to his. Dracula waited for him to cower, to take to scowl from his face, and the defiance from his brown eyes, but he stood determinedly from her, daring, challenging her to do her worst. Kate and Scott only stood there watching, amazed at his bravery, but then Alex did not know about their parents previous meeting with him and what this monster was capable of.

Dracula's thin and colourless lips tightened into a fine crooked pencil line. Up came his hand – a huge heavy hand flashing this chunky gold rings. Alex didn't flinch, his only reaction to this very obvious threat was a deeper, more fierce scowl as his small hands knotted into fists raised in a fighting technique. Did he think he could fight her and win? Kate tried to call Alex's name to stop him, but her voice was so choked it was only a whisper.

Decided on his course of action now, Dracula delivered his round, defiant baby face a stinging slap so hard it sent him reeling! He stumbled backwards, then fell to the floor, but was up in a flash, spinning around to consider a fresh assault against the huge mountain of hateful flesh. His decision was then a pitiful thing. He faltered, reconsidered and common sense won out over anger. He scampered over to where Serena crouched, half crawling, half running, and then flinging his arms around her, they knelt, holding one to the other, cheeks pressed to cheek and he added his siren howl to hers.

"They are your siblings – shut them up!" Dracula screamed over them.

However, the buttercup twins, one started, were practically impossible to quiet. Reasoning never reached their ears. They only heard their own terror, and like horses running as fast as they could, they had to rundown from pure exhaustion.

But this wasn't their room; there was no time for them to wind down. This one room wasn't their own mansion, and in here the twins held their captive audience painfully enthralled. They screamed until their faces went from red to magenta, and then on to purple. Their brown eyes, so much like their mothers, went glassy and unfocused from their combined efforts.

Apparently, until now Dracula had been held mesmerized by such a display. Then whatever had held him motionless released its spell. He came alive. Purposefully he strode over the corner where the twins were huddled. Own he reached to seize them up ruthlessly, by their scruffs, two yelling children. Holding them stiff-armed away from him, as they kicked, hollered, and flailed their arms, trying to ineffectively inflict some injury on their tormentor, the twins were hauled up before Kate and Scott. Then down on the floor they were dropped like so much unwanted trash. In a loud firm voice that punctured through their yelling, he stated flatly. "I will whip you both until the blood runs from you skin if you don't stop yelling this very instant."

That inhuman quality, plus the cold force of the appalling threat, convinced the twins, and Scott and Kate, that he meant exactly what he had said. In astonished and horrible belief the twins stared up at her – and with open mouths they choked of their cries. They knew what blood was, and pain came with it. It hurt to see them handled to brutally, as if he didn't care if frail bones broke, or tender flesh was bruised.

Kate's P.O.V 

It was then, on the first of many nights in that cold dark room, that I first questioned my faith. I floundered in a maelstrom of uncertainty, aching inside, not knowing who or what I was, if I had the right to be living on an earth the Lord reserved for those born with his blessings and permission. In the space of a few moments, we had been separated from everything we held dear to out heart: our home, our friends, our possessions, and most of all, our mother and father. How I missed them so. That night I no longer believed that God was the perfect judge. So, in a way, I lost God too.

Daddy always said that he was the left had of God, once best friends almost, he had told me I had angel blood, which is why I looked nothing like my mother or my father, and hadn't Dracula called me Angel Valerious a few days ago? If Dad was that close to God, and I was an angel of heaven, why was this happening? As far as any of us were aware, we had not sinned or betrayed God. We were taken unwillingly by a creature of hell to be treated poorly in return for my death, for I knew in the bottom of my heart that that was what this was all about. Me. He wanted me so badly, he was willing to destroy everything I loved to do so, I understood this from the moment Momma told me. What I didn't understand though, was why God was letting this occur.


	10. Becoming The Parents

Tears rolled down Anna and Gabriel's faces furiously. Anna sobbed loudly and as hard as she could to release the pain, but with every sob it only buried itself deeper into her aching heart. Even from a distance, she had seen the terrified look on her daughter's little face. Gabriel was holding Anna half to comfort her, and half to keep his legs from failing him. Carl was sitting on the dining table looking at the wall in complete disbelief. No one had spoken now for about ten minutes. It was eventually Anna, still weeping, who broke the painful silence.

"Why is God punishing us, Gabriel?" She said, stopping to choke out a sob before he could answer her. "What did we do wrong?" Her head lifted from his chest to see his face, she ignored the fact that they were not alone in the room. Usually when she did cry in front of others, which was extremely rare, she would keep her face buried away so no one could see her tears. Carl, personally, had never seen her cry, and the amount of tears that flowered from her glistening eyes shocked him.

"I don't know, baby." He whispered. "I'm sorry, I don't know." He was lost, and Anna was right, surely they were being punished for something. They had raised their children to respect the Lord, to understand the difference between right and wrong, where had they gone wrong?

"I should show you what I found in the library." Carl said to them, now guilty he hadn't told them earlier.

In the library, there was a book lying open on the desk, where he had been studying it before he too had heard Dracula's enraged roar and looked from his window to see Kate being dangled from a great height. Anna sat opposite Carl at the desk and Gabriel stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders comfortingly.

"I was searching the moment you left for another way to kill Dracula without having to change into a werewolf, and I found this. It was a new book I picked up in London a while ago." He showed the passage to the couple. Gabriel read it aloud.

"When Dracula first made his deal with the Devil, there was only one thing that could harm him: the blood of an angel. Valerious the Elder, the first ancestor to try to destroy the demon, coincidently his son, was aided by the help of a stranger claiming to be the left-hand of God himself. Together, the pair managed to banish Dracula to a castle far away in the middle of the Transylvanian Alps, hundreds of miles away from anything. But he returned to seek his revenge on the Valerious family, which brought about the claim to Gad made by Valerious the Elder, that his family to come would not rest in heaven until Dracula was destroyed. Time passed, and eventually only one Valerious remained, Princess Anna. A few days after the taking of her brother into the werewolf form, Transylvania was unwillingly welcoming Gabriel Van Helsing into its midst. Together the pair fought and killed Dracula, his brides, and his thousands of children he was trying to create life within. Today, Gabriel Van Helsing and Anna Valerious are married with four children, still residing in Anna's family home of Vaseria." Gabriel sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. "Their second-born child, daughter Katie Grace, since she was a small child, has depicted the living form of the guardian Angel of God himself. The angel bloodline of her father, mixed with the Valerious bloodline, has managed to create what experts say will be the strongest weapon against Dracula, should he ever return. Only her blood, once spilled, will be useless against him, thus giving him another chance to create a third age of darkness. However should she succeed in getting near enough to him, spilling a drop of her blood onto his sword and striking him in the heart with it will truly destroy him for all of time."

Anna and Gabriel looked at each other in shock. Now they knew. Anna took the book from him, at first she had only been half listening, but when the writer had written about her, she started to listen attentively. There was a picture covering half of the page with two tall figures and a smaller one between them. They were humans. One was male, with dark hair, dressing in black, one was a female also with dark hair but dressing in a red, and the smaller one was dressed in white, with shining blonde hair and blue eyes. Anna didn't need to guess who they were.

"Gabriel it's us with Katie." She said quietly. Gabriel looked over her shoulder at the picture. The witch had been right. It was up to Katie now, all they could do, was give her a chance to fulfil her destiny before it was too late.

Katie's P.O.V 

Time passed slowly. We started to sleep during the day; afraid to be asleep when Dracula was awake. After the incident, Scott and me were forced to tell the twins about Dracula, who he was, and why we mattered to him. Every time we awoke, we rushed to the window to see if Momma and Daddy were riding on their great horses to rescue us. But every day we didn't see them. We forced ourselves to believe they were coming, but in the end it was no use. When November came, we began to give up hope. Dracula's son, apparently unscathed our presence, brought us food and milk every day to keep us from passing away.

The room turned icy cold with the fast approaching winter. Our teeth chattered, our noses ran, we sneezed often. One day, a woman with a think Romanian accent like our mothers brought us long heavy underwear to wear underneath our clothes.

In the room we barely had room to walk without colliding into something to bruise our shins. Sometimes we fought, sometimes we cried, but most of the time we just relished the fact that we were still alive, and even if we were alone, we were alone together. The twins developed a passion for hide-and-seek in the room full of trunks and furniture. I remembered playing it with them in the courtyard the morning we were taken.

But in this particular game, Alex had easily one. Scott had easily found Serena, and me but Alex was still unfound an hour later. His normal way to choose his hiding place was the last place Scott or me had hidden in the last game. So it was our belief we would go straight to the third massive armoire and there would be Alex, crouched In the bottom hiding under the old clothes and grinning up at us. We indulged him, avoiding that particular wardrobe for a specific length of time. Then we decided to 'find him'

But he wasn't there.

"Well I'll be damned." Exclaimed Scott. "He's finally found a better hiding place than all of us in this damn room."

I swiped at my leaky nose and then took another look around. If truly innovative, there were a million good hiding places in this room. Why, it might take hours and hours to find him, and I was cold, tired and miserable, sick of playing this game that Scott insisted we play daily to keep us active.

"Alex!" I yelled. "Come out form wherever you are! You won." Nothing. No answer, no movement, only silence.

Suddenly I was scared. I couldn't believe that Alex had overcome his fear of the immense shadowy room and was at last taking this game seriously. "Scott," I cried. "We've got to find him, and fast."

He caught on to my panic and whirled into a run, crying out Alex's name, ordering to come out, stop hiding. Both of us ran and hunted while Serena watched. I was nearly freezing because of fear, despite my clothes, eve my hands weren't working properly.

"Oh God." Murmured Scott, pulling up short. "Suppose he hid in one of the trunks, and the lid came down and accidentally latched?"

Alex would suffocate! He'd die!

Like crazy we ran and looked, throwing open all the lids of every trunk. We tossed out the contents all with insane, distressed terror. And while we did this, I prayed to God with all my heart and strength not to let Alex die.

"Kate I've found him!" shouted Scott. I spun round to see Scot lifting Alex's small inert form from a trunk that had latched and kept him inside. Weak with relief, I stumbled over and kissed Alex's small, pale face, turned a funny colour from lack of air. His slitted eyes were unfocused. He was very nearly unconscious. "Momma," he whispered, "I want my Momma"

But Momma wasn't here. There was only a small clan of vampires and I certainly didn't know what to do in an emergency. Luckily, Scott did from all his studying.

"Run that tub with hot water, but not too hot. We don't want to scald him." Then he was racing with Alex in his arms towards the tub.

I reached it first. I glanced backwards to see Scott lay Alex down on the bed. Then he bent above, held Alex's nostrils, and then Scott lowered his head until his mouth covered Alex's blue lips, which were spread apart. My heart jumped, was he dead? Had he stopped breathing?

Serena took one glance at what was going on – her small twin blue and not moving – and began to scream.

Near the tub I turned on both faucets as far as they would go; full blast they gushed. Alex was going to die! Always, since out capture, I was dreaming of death and dying...and most of my dreams came fatefully true. And as always, just when I thought God had turned his back on us, and didn't care, I whirled around to grab hold of my faith, and prayed, demanding Him not to let Alex die.

Maybe my desperate prayers did as much to help my brother as whatever Scott had done.

"He's breathing again." Said Scott, pale faced and trembling as he carried Alex to the tub. "Now all we have to do is warm him up." In no time at all we had Alex undressed and in the tub of warm water.

"Momma," Alex whispered as he came to, "I want Momma." Over and over again he kept saying it, and I could have pounded my fists through the walls it was so damn unfair! He should have his mother, not just a pretend mother that didn't know what to do. I wanted out of this. I wanted Momma and Dad. I wanted home.

But Momma wasn't here. Just us. Ii said in a calm way that made Scott look up at me and smile with approval. "Alex, Momma isn't here. But I'll do everything for you that she would. I'll hold you on my lap, and rock you to sleep while I sing you a lullaby, just as soon as you eat some food and have some milk."

Both Scott and I were kneeling as I said this he was massaging Alex's small feet, while I rubbed his cold hands and made them warm again. When his flesh was coloured normally again, we dried Alex off, put him back in all of his clothes, and wrapped him securely in one of the pathetic excuses for blankets we had been given. I sat against the wall opposite the window and cuddled my sweet younger brother on my lap. I covered his face with kisses and whispered sweet nothing in his ear that made him giggle.

If he could laugh, he could eat, and so I fed him tiny bits of lukewarm soup, and long drinks of milk. As I did this I grew older. Ten years I aged in ten minutes. I glanced at Scott and realised that he, too, had changed. Now we knew there was real danger in this attic besides Dracula and his family. We all faced threats much worse than the mice and spiders that insisted on living, despite all Scott did to kill every last one, to prevent them scaring the twins.

I rocked on and on, holding Alex in my lap, with an arm around Serena at my side. "Katie," Said Alex in a small whisper while Serena nodded off into sleep. "I don't like not being with Momma and Daddy."

"They'll come get us Alex, I promise."

"Are you really as good as Momma?"

"Not completely, but I love you very much, and I think that brings me very close"

Alex stared up at me with wide brown eyes, to see if I was sincere or only mocking his need. Then his small arms crept around my neck, and he cuddled his head on my shoulder. "I'm sleepy, but don't stop singing Katie"

I was still singing softly when Scott came to sit with us. He sat beside Serena and lifted her onto his lap, listening to the childish tune I was singing to no one but myself. He put his arm around me too, so he held us all close to him, practically on his lap.

Daddy used to do that. He'd hold all of us on his lap, even Momma sometimes as well as us. His arms had been long enough, and strong enough to embrace us all and give us the nicest, warmest feeling of security and love. I wondered if Scott, looking and resembling Daddy so much, could do the same.

An eerie feeling passed over me, like the bad feeling I got the night before we left for the Vatican. Scott and I looked like doll parents, younger, slightly less wise versions of our parents.

"The bible says there is a time for everything," whispered Scott, so not to wake the twins. "A time to be born, a time to plant, a time to harvest, and time to die, and so on. This is our time to sacrifice. Later on will come our time to live and enjoy."

I turned my head and nestled it down on his boyish shoulder, grateful he was always so optimistic, always so cheerful, even under darkened, hopeless skies. It felt good to have his strong young arms about me – almost as good and protective as Daddy's were. He was right as well. Our happy time would come, when we left this room and went home to our parents.


End file.
